A referee from outside the European confederation will officiate the 2026 match, to be played at Red Bull Arena in Salzburg (Austria) between Paris Saint Germain and Aston Villa.
Following the well-known events surrounding the World Cup in the United States, the Somali referee will become the first non-European referee to officiate this fixture, with this year's edition being the 51st.
The on-field refereeing team will be African: he will be accompanied by Djiboutian assistant referee Liban Abdoulrazack Ahmed and Kenyan assistant referee Stephen Eleazar Onyango Yiembe.
UEFA has appointed Slovenian Rade Obrenovič as the fourth official, while Italian Marco Di Bello will be on VAR duty, with Guillermo Cuadra Fernández serving as AVAR.
The performance of the refereeing team will be assessed by UEFA Refereeing Committee member Björn Kuipers.
Cypriot UEFA delegate Adonis Procopiu will be on duty for this clash.
2026 UEFA Super Cup
12 August 2026, 21:00 CET
Red Bull Arena, Salzburg (Austria)
Paris Saint Germain FC (FRA) - Aston Villa FC (ENG)
Referee: Omar Abdulkadir Artan SOM
Assistant Referee 1: Liban Abdoulrazack Ahmed DJI
Assistant Referee 2: Stephen Eleazar Onyango Yiembe KEN
Fourth Official: Rade Obrenovič SVN
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Björn Kuipers NED
UEFA Delegate: Adonis Procopiou CYP
Good luck to him! This must be one of the line ups in European football history with the most nationalities on the pitch.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope Ortan remembers to put on the Macron socks. ;)
Could you please explain the joke?:)
DeleteAll the best! Enjoy the game!
ReplyDeleteSlovenian 40 and a italian VAR, Makes such a rwfreshing change to how qpointmets are made 🤣 good luck omar artan hope the ball rollls kindly for u
ReplyDeleteagree
DeleteI smell a rat
Slovenes, Italians... every time you see the worst on those ones.
DeleteNow just drop the conspiracy nonsense once and for all, you're being completely ridiculous.
I always say this: UEFA is no different from FIFA under Infantino... We all know the reason behind the massive favoritism shown toward Slovenian and Italian referees. Rade can never be like Vincic, he is one of the worst referees I've ever seen.. but he always finds a place for himself in the most important finals.
ReplyDeleteOMAR 🙏🏻https://x.com/uefa/status/2086866623672058196?s=46
ReplyDeleteExtremely quick appointments by UEFA with observers for next week's CL play offs.
ReplyDeleteLevski Sofia - AEK
Marinus Koopman NED
GNK Dinamo - Viking
Markus Nobs SUI
Fenerabahçe - Lyon
Mike Riley ENG
Celtic - LASK
Gianluca Rocchi ITA
Slovan Bratislava - Celje
Laurent Duhamel FRA
Hapoel Beer Sheva - Sabah
Jon Skjervold NOR
NEC - Bodø/Glimt
Vítor Melo Pereira POR
There shouldn't be surprises, mostly regular Elite referees, maybe those who didn't get a CL Third Qual. Round assignment before the others.
What are your predictions for the referee appointments, Chefren? The toughest match looks like Fenerbahçe vs. Lyon.
DeleteWe can see that an English observer has been assigned to Fenerbahçe game, so this means not an English referee.
DeleteIt was your question some days ago, if I remember correctly, about the opportunity to assign English referees to Turkish teams, now with Taylor working in that country. It seems UEFA agrees (as for now).
Makkelie should be the first name one could think about, if we want to exclude the referees who already got a game on last round.
I agree with you.. My guess is Makkelie or Zwayer..
DeleteLooks like they did that on purpose :) English observer for second leg in Lyon as well, Howard Webb, so again no English referee here.
Delete👍🏻 As I said, since Anthony Taylor is the boss of referees in Turkey, I don't think we will see English referees in Turkish teams' matches during this process.
DeleteYou are questioning Anthony Taylor's and English referees integrity with that statement ,Taylor has gone there to bring his high standards and integrity to Turkish refereeing ,which has been sadly lacking for a number of years.
DeleteAfter all said and done, however, the moment of truth has arrived for Somali referee Omar Artan, who will take center stage tonight.
ReplyDeleteLet's just say that, thanks to UEFA's choice, we have gained some insight into the kind of politics behind the appointment for the Super Cup.
This choice doesn't differ that much from the one of Stéphanie Frappart seven years ago, and in any case, the Super Cup has always been seen somewhat as a showcase compared to other UEFA competitions, as a different kind of opportunity, even more so under Rosetti's management.
Artan at the World Cup, might have only served as a reserve, even though, given how things were going, I think they would have given him a match; but in this way he has become much more famous and will surely be under a lot of spotlights. I hope he manages to officiate the match well, because otherwise people might start having a perhaps even different opinion of him.
If we want to bring everything back to the refereeing itself, we have to say that the luxurious presentation is acceptable, a media campaign with photographs, interviews, and clips on UEFA's official accounts across various social media platforms, much higher than the appointments for other Cup finals and regular appointments, but even that is acceptable, given the extraordinary event.
Now, however, we need to see what happens.
I'm very curious. I don't think it will be an extremely demanding match, but the two teams will certainly want to make a good impression, without a doubt, and the Somali referee faces a huge responsibility. Even though the third preliminary round of the Champions League has already been played, which now has vastly greater visibility than in the past, this is perhaps the first match of a certain UEFA media level for the season, even though the Super Cup must be placed in its proper context.
Also, Infantino is reported as spectator of the Super Cup.
UEFA will allow him: the contrary decision would mean going on the same level of the FIFA president, and that would be sad for UEFA.
I strongly wish the best to all involved in this fixture.
Is Infantino going to watch the Super Cup from the stands? 😂 That bald man is up to something again
DeleteHappy about Artan. Wish him all best tonight!
ReplyDeleteGood luck brother and all involved in this fixture
ReplyDeleteLets go Omar 🤞🏻
ReplyDeleteMaybe I missed the info, but can VAR intervene for wrongly awarded CK ?
ReplyDeleteyes
DeleteThx
DeleteGood no pk call 24th minute! Great positioning to see that
ReplyDeleteMissed attacking foul in 41' before corner kick,luckily nothing happened after that.
ReplyDeleteA great first half for Omar!
ReplyDeleteExcellent first half for Artan: calm and focused, in my opinion he has got every technical decision right so far. His disciplinary approach has also been good in what is otherwise a fair match. It seems to me that his strength is his dynamism and an innate sense of positioning. A credible match management. Well done.
ReplyDeleteBroadcast pictures all over the place
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've seen a referee officiate such a flawless Final.. absolute perfection 👏
ReplyDeleteCalm confident and complete conttrol
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSshh dont let donald trump, hear you say that!
ReplyDeleteWe need to transfer Omar Artan to UEFA..
ReplyDeleteExcellent performance by somalian referee ! Well done uefa !
ReplyDeleteVery good by Artan
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Omar Artan. Very good job!
ReplyDeleteExcellent performance by Omar Artan. Well done to him and his team, and well done UEFA !
ReplyDeleteVery much Successful for all involved
ReplyDeleteGood job by Omar artan and his team and congratulations to UEFA for trusting him,and well done for all involved
ReplyDeleteA really good performance by Artan, which shows how big a mistake it was not to let him play in the last World Cup
ReplyDeleteOoooo Rade Obrenović was the fourth official of course I'm not surprised at all.. 😀😁
ReplyDelete😂😂😂 noone was! One day ceferin and rosetti will cause a serious injury with there POLITICS
DeleteArtan performed very well. Although some of his calls might have been confusing to viewers—partly because he officiates in a different continent—he was consistently correct and firm in his officiating.
ReplyDeleteKudos to UEFA for such a noble and respectful initiative in supporting the Somali referee by giving him the opportunity to officiate the opening match of the 2026/2027 season.
A message has been sent to FIFA, and Infantino certainly continues to lose credibility with each passing day.